verbissenvsvermisstenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: verbissen is a verb, vermissten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verbissen” is a verb and “vermissten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,700
“verbissen” frequency rank
#17,449
“vermissten” frequency rank
54149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbissen vermissten
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verbeißen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs vermisst

Where the eye mixes verbissen and vermissten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verbissen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against vermissten's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verbissen
10 ch
vermissten

Visual trap between verbissen and vermissten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbissen is [fɛɐ̯ˈbɪsn̩] while vermissten is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbissen is recorded at frequency rank #36,700, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɪsn̩]. vermissten is at rank #17,449, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪstn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 54149, this pair ranks #1,030,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbissen vs vermissten

Shared letters: einrsv. Private to "verbissen": b. Private to "vermissten": mt.

"verbissen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "vermissten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbissen ← evrbissen · vebrissen · verbbissen · verbisen · verbisesn · verbissenn · verbissne · verbißen
  • vermissten ← evrmissten · vemrissten · verimssten · vermissetn · vermisstenn · vermisstne · vermisstten · vermisten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbissen" for "vermissten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbissen" is a verb and "vermissten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verbissen" vs "vermissten" - which ranks higher?
"vermissten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,449 in our German list, against #36,700 for "verbissen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "verbissen" and "vermissten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbissen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermissten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,030,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbissen" and "vermissten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbissen vs vermiesen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,030,192 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list